When will Texas hold its primaries? State Republicans are deeply divided

Republican lawmakers turned up the heat on the Texas GOP leader Wednesday, asking them to keep the state’s primary contests on a single election day while their own party continues to push for two primary elections that would keep at least the presidential primary contest in March.

Most of the Texas congressional delegation signed a letter sent to the three-judge federal panel in San Antonio late Wednesday, asking it to back a solution that would keep all of the state’s primary contests on the same day. Earlier Wednesday, 15 of the 19 Republicans in the Texas Senate issued a joint statement, making a similar request.

“Unless it is absolutely necessary, which it may be, but unless it’s absolutely necessary (the second primary) is sort of mother of all unfunded mandates,” said Republican state Sen. Kel Seliger, chairman of the Senate Redistricting Committee.

Seliger said he was concerned a second primary election would confuse voters and election officials and reduce turnout.

Those concerns, which largely were echoed in the letter from the congressional delegation, mirror the arguments against splitting, or bifurcating, the state’s primary contests made by Democrats, minority groups and major county election officials during Tuesday’s hearing in federal court.

Political observers attribute the growing Republican chasm over differing political interests.

“(Gov. Rick) Perry, (Lt. Gov. David) Dewhurst and the party all want to have the March 6 primary on its scheduled date. Assuming Perry is still in the (GOP presidential) race, Texas could be helpful to him,” said Cal Jillson, who predicted that turnout could drop by half in legislative and congressional races if they were moved to May primary.

The lower turnout, Jillson said, could contribute to another wave of incumbent, establishment Republicans falling to insurgent candidates, much like what happened in 2010 when tea party-affiliated candidates had a lot of success.

“Democracy works better when you have more voters participating. It’s healthier for Texas,” said state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, who’s one of the Austin lawmakers who supports keeping the primaries unified.

He rejected the idea that a Republican primary challenge from two very conservative tea-party-affiliated candidates had helped to shape his opinion.

Perry’s campaign spokesman, Ray Sullivan, declined to say where Perry stands on the issue, releasing a statement says, in part, that he “will be well positioned and prepared for the Texas primary election regardless of when it occurs.”

Attorney General Greg Abbott first proffered the idea of splitting Texas’ primary election into two contests when he asked the Supreme Court to stay court-drawn interim redistricting maps for the Texas House, Senate and congressional districts that were going to be used for the 2012 election.

When Judge Orlando Garcia asked Abbott’s lead attorney, David Mattax, if the attorney general supported the idea of splitting up Texas’ primary, Mattax said Abbott believed issue should be worked out by the political parties and groups suing the state over redistricting.

The Republican Party of Texas appeared ready to fight in court Tuesday for a split primary, which would ensure at least the presidential primary would take place in March. By the end of the day, party chairman Steve Munisteri sounded a more conciliatory note, saying that he’d listen to lawmakers.

“It’s negotiable if the elected officials in the state want it to be negotiable. Everything is one the table,” he said.